Details of Kevin Spacey Inquiry in Massachusetts Are Released

An 18-year-old man told detectives in Massachusetts last year that the actor Kevin Spacey unzipped his pants and rubbed his genitalia in a sexual manner “for about three minutes” after 1 a.m. at a crowded bar in Nantucket in July 2016 — and that while this was occurring, the man sent video of the exchange through Snapchat to his girlfriend.

These are some of the details of the investigation behind a coming charge of indecent assault and battery for Mr. Spacey that were made public this week as a result of a criminal complaint filed in Nantucket District Court.

Email messages to the lawyer who represented Mr. Spacey at a recent hearing, as well as to his representative, went unreturned on Thursday.

The accusations of misconduct against the actor were first brought to light by a former Boston television anchor, Heather Unruh, who said at a news conference last year that Mr. Spacey sexually assaulted her son at the bar, the Club Car.

According to the newly released documents, the man was a busboy who was working till midnight on or around July 7, 2016. He told investigators on Nov. 22, 2017 — more than a year after the encounter — that Mr. Spacey arrived at around 11:30 p.m. with his manager. After his shift ended, the two were introduced and immediately started having several drinks together. The accuser said he told Mr. Spacey he was 23, even though he was actually 18.

At one point, the two were beside a piano at the bar, where Mr. Spacey and the accuser had been singing songs. He said Mr. Spacey put his left hand on his thigh and then unzipped his pants, before rubbing his penis.

The accuser said he was not sure what to do and proceeded to send a video of the encounter to his girlfriend, whom he had been texting and who did not initially believe what was going on. Mr. Spacey left to go to the bathroom and the accuser, who said he was distraught, left to go home.

The criminal complaint includes interviews with other people, including the accuser’s girlfriend, who told the authorities that the Snapchat video showed Mr. Spacey “touching the front” of the accuser’s “pants by his crotch.”

A bartender who was working at the Club Car that night told detectives that he remembered Mr. Spacey being there with the accuser but did not see any sexual assault.

A bystander told the police something similar, and that the accuser looked “pale, blank, a bit frightened.”

Mr. Spacey, who has been accused by more than a dozen people of sexual misconduct, is set to be arraigned on Jan. 7, the first criminal charge against him resulting from an accusation.

His only public response so far has been a bizarre video posted on Twitter on Monday after initial news of the felony charge broke. In that video, he seemed to be in character as Frank Underwood — whom he played in the Netflix show “House of Cards.”

A lawyer for the accuser declined to comment.

In the fall, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office declined to prosecute Mr. Spacey in connection with an allegation that he sexually assaulted a man in West Hollywood in 1992. However, Mr. Spacey is still being investigated in connection with an accusation that Los Angeles County officials received in August. The details about that case have not been made public.

“We have a case that remains under review,” Ricardo Santiago, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorney, said in an email on Thursday. “That is all we have to say at this moment.”

Mr. Spacey is also reportedly under investigation by law enforcement in London about several accusations of inappropriate behavior.